Sen. Kamala Harris' friends on her upbringing: 'She was one to not let anyone tell her who she was.'
In 1984, President Ronald Reagan won re-election in a landslide victory. Steve Jobs introduced the first Macintosh computer. Prince's"Purple Rain" album and movie were released. And a 20-year-old Kamala Harris was a Howard University undergrad making a name for herself.
Several of Harris' friends spoke with"Nightline" as part of"The Contenders @ 20" series, which profiles where Democratic presidential candidates were in their lives at age 20, and also examines key moments in their formative years before that time. Watch the full story on"Nightline" TONIGHT at 12:35 p.m. ET.
In the second Democratic presidential debates hosted by NBC News, Harris had a defining moment when she pressed former Vice President Joe Biden on his opposition of federally mandated busing as a means of integrating American public schools. "To be able to be bussed and go into this other environment. It transports you into a whole other little universe," Porter said."It just expands your mind."
Harris, the daughter of an Indian mother and Jamaican father, learned about race and identity from an early age. Her parents separated when she was 6 years old, and her mother, Shyamala Gopalan, raised Harris and her sister, Maya Lakshmi Harris,"to be great and be who you want to be," said Porter.
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